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Kinross Gold Corp.

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September 17, 2024 at 10:40 AM (MDT)|Broadmoor Hotel & Resort

Paul Rollinson

Chief Executive Officer

Paul Rollinson was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Kinross Gold on August 1, 2012. He first joined the company as Executive Vice-President, New Investments, in September 2008. Under Paul’s leadership of Kinross, the Company has strengthened its balance sheet, advanced its portfolio of mines and projects, and achieved one of the best safety records in the industry.

Paul started his career working as an exploration geologist. Paul joined Kinross after a career in investment banking, where he worked primarily in mining, industrials, forestry, power and utility sectors. Paul has an Honours BSc in Geology from Laurentian University and a MEng in Mining from McGill University.

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Today, we have Paul Rollinson, Ceo of Kinross Gold to lead us through a fireside chat and with that, we'll take it away. So hopefully this is working. All right. All right. So last week you've re released A P A on the Great Bear Project. Could you give us a little bit of an overview on the results of the, the P A and what you're looking for in terms of next steps going forward. Yes. It's been an incredible journey. We've owned the asset for approximately 30 months when we acquired the asset, there was no declared resource. We had done three years of due diligence prior to announcing the acquisition, but we clearly saw the potential for a high grade long life mining complex. The pe A really has just put up an initial view, technical report on what we see is going to be a very robust future. So, again, context, we started with zero declared resources 30 months later. M I and I 6.5 million contain that six and that, that ounce endowment is really what's driving the economics on the feasibility study, I would say as a larger company and a very manageable capital profile, We have the opportunity to optimize right out of the gate. So one of the things we did is we, we brought some capital upfront so that we could have a concurrent open pit underground in goal seeking with that capitalized development in the open pit in the underground that allows us to get to production of 500,000 ounces a year with a very attractive as of approximately $800 an ounce. So that's a, that's a lovely cash engine that, that kind of production, that kind of margin cash flow in combination with a, with a capital number quite manageable for us at 1.4 billion really sets up a a really attractive economics. And it's just the beginning. our thesis in this project was really, we're sitting in the Red Lake camp, which is generally known as a high grade vein camp. What we saw here was a, a Hemlo analog where instead of I use the analogy of a two by four for a vein, we've got a sheet of plywood and that's how we were able to drill it so predictably and so quickly. And we have traced that mineralization, we believe it's orogenic. So it's, it's coming from depth up to surface. We have now drilled that down to 1.6 kilometers vertical and it's, we're still seeing fabulous open-ended, intercepts, at 1.6 vertical depth. we're still getting 4 m of 10 g. So it's,, it's looking really good. So I believe the start up timeline is H 2 2029. Can you let me know what's on the critical path to achieve that timeline? Sure. Yeah, look, I mean, the science, the engineering, all of that is well under control. It's really now all about permitting and in regards to permitting, we're pursuing a parallel track. As I said, we believe we've demonstrated our proof of hypothesis with minimization extension down to 1.6 kilometers. That's getting costly. You're drilling two kilometers to hit 1.6 vertical. So we're gonna slow down on the surface drilling the next chapter. And, and part of our permit strategy is we're going to put in an exploration decline. That's a provincial permit, the province of Ontario. We expect that permit very soon and we hope to begin early works this fall, clearing of trees, earthworks, civil works, that sort of thing. The beauty of the exploration decline is with it, with that permit, we can put in a substantial amount of surface infrastructure before we get our mine permit. So for example, there will be a truck shop, there'll be a camp, there'll be a power line connection, water line connection. So we, we'll be underground and we'll have a a surface infrastructure start by the time we get our mining permit. So first permit, next chapter of focus, advanced exploration drove from underground more cost effectively the mine permit itself. This is a standing start greenfields project that requires a full environmental baseline. So we've been doing the flora, fauna, air water, all things environmental science since we owned it. We're in great shape there. We're in an excellent location where I think everyone knows we're 15 minutes from the Tim Hortons in Red Lake. The topography is flat. We have no topography at all. We have no river. There's no lake. We're just off the highway. It's been logged and it's been quarried, so it's an excellent location. We will finish that baseline and our intent is to file that impact assessment next year. At that point, we go into the federal system. I, you know, all I can at, at that point say is what is precedent and precedent in Ontario in that part of the world from submission of impact statement to mine permit. It's generally been around two years. So impact statement goes in mid next year, permit two years later and then two years of construction. So that's the timeline and the critical path. So just moving to some of your current operations, what, what operations do you think will drive production the back half of the year? I know, you had, some maintenance at Tazi and, and at the coa so can you talk about that and give us an idea of what this back half of the year looks like? Yeah. Well, I would say that we've had a very strong first half., you know, we guide around 2 million ounces. We're, we're solidly in a million year to, you know, first half. and we're solidly on guidance for the rest of the year. If I were to go through the portfolio, as always, there's a bit of puts and takes as part of the mine sequence in the mine planning. So one of the mines that will be going up is Fort Knox. We've commissioned Mano. We're now feeding eight grand material up to the Fort Knox Mill. We had our first gold poor back in July. So Mano is, is part of our grade strategy supplement for, for our US operations that's going extremely well from Mano or Fort Knox. I would go to the two anchor tenants in the portfolio. I'll start with Tass. Yes, I was just there last week. It's dialed in 24 K is behind us. It's just routine optimization and avail of availability. We're on track there for 610,000 ounces for the year. We've got routine maintenance, things like mill liner replacements, but that's all factored into the guidance of Tassi. Yes, we're very solid coming in at 606 110. moving from there to Pera two. The other anchor tenant we started per we guided Perica two to be a lower year this year than last year and it will come up again next year. Part of the reason is we were mining higher in the pit a little bit lower grades a little bit closer to a local community. So we, we geared back the the mining rate a little bit lower grade that's behind us. We're gonna have a stronger second half as we move into higher grades and get deeper in the pit. So, Pera to check Chile, again, we're on track for 250,000 ounces great margins. We just continue to move around the mill looking for optimization bottlenecks just to, you know, keep, keep maximizing availability. And then I guess the one area where we'll be slightly down in the second half versus the first is Nevada. And, and there's nothing in that other than just the mind sequencing plan as Nevada is coming down a bit this second half, it's, it's getting taken up by some of the others that are coming up in the second half so solidly on track to meet the guidance, I would say one other thing just, you know, as we look at the portfolio and we think about the cost. We have the six mines three in the U S3 out of the U SI referred to them as the anchor tenants, Cassius Perica two. That's over a million ounces a year. You throw Laco on top of that, that's two thirds of our production. So two thirds of our production is coming in at an ASIC of between 1000 and 1100. So that's, that's the solid sort of cash engine in the portfolio you mentioned you were at Tasia last week With the recent elections in Martin, how is your relationship with the government relationship is excellent. President Kwai was just elected with, with a, with a strong majority for a second term. I first met President Kwai back in September of 2019. I've had many meetings with him and his administration. He's been very supportive. His platform is all around foreign investment. I was over there. He shuffled his cabinet. I, we previously had a minister of mines and petroleum. A little distracting. Now we have a new minister of mines. So we, we made the meetings with all of the, the new cabinet members and the relationship is really excellent. And, you know, again, for context, we've been there for 10 years. We've now produced over 4 million ounces. We've built projects on time on budget and we're now done with the 24 K and this sounds a little ironic., I'm actually happy that we are now in a position where we're paying income tax., we have a great relationship but, you know how it is with shield and, and, and,, but, but we're at the point in time where we are paying income tax and that just helps strengthen the relationship,, with the country of Mauritania. So earlier this decade, you know, there was, I think three or four years ago, there was concerns that you couldn't sustain your current levels of production. And at the time you two or three years ago, you put out a few studies and, and demonstrated to the market that you expect sustainable production at this level until the end of the decade. So can you talk about what will drive production at these levels into the 20 thirties as we get past 2020 29? A great better start up? But what, what are your core assets there? Yeah. Well, I guess I'd start from here to the end of the decade. We've guided 2 million ounces and again, puts and takes in the portfolio and there's a few things going on there that will contribute to that, but I would kind of divide it into. one would be sort of the open pits, keep doing what we're doing. And so in that regard, our intention is to keep mining at La Coipa in the oxides to the end of the decade. And then we're looking for a linear step out of La Coipa into Lobo and Lobo will be the next 1015 years in Chile beyond the end of the decade after La Coa. And the reason we do that the synergy is all about water. We have permitted pumping water wells. And our plan is to use that same water where we draw the water is actually very close to lobo, use it for Lobo. So there's a view at the end of the decade and a new asset that will be coming in as a brand new portfolio edition at the end of the decade. Post Great Bear. We've just started our baseline environmental impact. So we're, we're ramping up with lots of time to, to get that on on track. Going back to the portfolio again to the end of the decade. We see we've got 4 million ounces of resource at Bald. Bald is unlike the rest of our properties where we have maybe one big operation. Open pit Bald, we've got 600 square kilometers in Nevada and we've got small pits everywhere. And so we're looking at, you know, quick payback, quick return capital investments on smaller pits at Bald. Switching now to the, the sort of stuff we're not currently doing or continuing to extend would be really mo moving towards the underground and we're as you know, we've got visibility and production at Round Mountain from phase W West, phase s South that gives us visibility of production to the end of the decade. But now we're 2.5 kilometers down a decline into the underground extension of the round mountain or body. And we're seeing really nice grades and width. So looking good, hoping that that can start to supplement the open pit in, in 27. So like mano, we'll be mining in the open pit, but we'll have a higher grade feed that'll blend quite nicely in and drive better mill recoveries and production and costs. And then the last one, we haven't said a lot about it. It's a small project. We still call it exploration but it's an underground mine, it's Curlew and Washington State. The geology is really interesting. We're finding it. It's, we're following a paleo line down and as we're getting deeper, we're getting really, really attractive wits and grades. So good opportunity to turn that line back on as well. So, lots of organic stuff that will take us through the end of the decade going into the thirties. It's Tasas, it's Perica two, it's Bob Mountain, it's Lobo Marte 12 pounds. Sorry. Sorry, it's ok. So moving to capital allocation, so really strong gold prices. Can you talk about your capital allocation strategy and touch on the buckets of debt? Repayment dividends, share buybacks, investment into the ground and M and a Sure. Yeah, I would say you know, obviously with the gold price where it is and in our portfolio, in particular, we, the cash flow is very strong. So just let's back up a little bit on the cash flow. So 24 is a lot like 23 in terms of the operating metrics, we produce 2 million ounces and 23. We're producing 2 million and 24 similar operating costs, a little bit of inflation and a similar capital number. In 23 we averaged realized gold price was about 950 we, we generated about 560 million of free cash flow with a realized price average of 1950. What we say is for every $100 in the gold price above 2000, we expect an incremental 200 million of free cash flow. So pick your goal price. But certainly the way we've been going this year, we're generating extremely strong cash flows. Our priority in terms of capital allocation really goes in the following order. What are the needs of the business? What are the needs of the balance sheet? And then we talk about return to shareholders. The needs of the business are fine. We're in great shape. We do have a very strong balance sheet. We're less than one times net debt to I do. But recall when we, when we acquired Great Bear and we've really only done a few acquisitions in the last few years in every single acquisition we've done, we've used cash, we've levered up the balance sheet and then we've repaid. So our priority right now with the cash flow is to take out that term loan, it was a billion dollar term loan. I suspect we'll pay 700 million of the term loan off through the course of this year. And that sets us up quite nicely because by the time we get into 25 great bear in the 30 months we've owned, it will be paid for and during that time, we've also bought back about 8% of our shares. So we've paid for the acquisition and reduced our share count. Moving to dividends, we pay a dividend. We think it's an attractive dividend dividend. It's in line with peers on a free cash flow yield basis, it's about 8%. And as we move into 25 and we see where commodity prices go, we'll continue to think about what we might do in terms of enhancements to return to capital. Thanks. We, I think we have time for just one more question. So I'll, I'll skip to the one that I think most people are interested in. What's your current thinking on M and A in the current environment? Yeah, look, I mean, M and A, as I said, a moment ago, we, we're, we haven't been, we, we've been very measured and very patient and very opportunistic in our M and A if you look in the rearview mirror and that continues. As I said, we've got a great organic pipeline. We've got projects that are coming in visibility of production. Our balance sheet is excellent. We don't need to sell anything to fix a balance sheet, sell anything to raise capital to buy back shares. No pressure to sell, no pressure to buy. I think as we bring newer stuff in every time we bring in newer stuff, it's generally of higher quality which is driving our margins and our and our costs and our cash flow. So that's a great place to be. So I'm not feeling any pressure but, you know, we have a team, we have a very strong technical team. and we look and if there was something that made sense, we'd think about it, but we're not under any pressure. We might have a, a time for just one quick question from the audience. If anyone has any questions, I don't think so. Sorry. Thanks Paul. Thank you. Thanks.


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